Unplug

 

Here we are again, another winter break!  It is hard to believe that time flies so quickly.  

I hope all of you get to truly unplug and spend time with those who mean the most to you.  

Thanks for all you do for our students and community each day.  You make a difference.

See you back on January 3rd!

Last Few Days:  Well, mother nature is knocking on our door and Thrusday's weather is up in the air. Because of the forecast, we are going to let teachers decide when they are going to give their final exams - either Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday of this week.  Here are a few stipulations: 

1.  If you give your finals early, you just need to have an educational activity planned for Thursday.  You could play an educational game, go over your exams, have a fun activity that builds on relationships, etc.  (No movies)    We want to make sure all of their time is valuable at school.

2.  Please know that grades have to be finished by the 4th at midnight.  We will not be changing this due date.  

3.  Please be mindful of students to ensure they do not have too many exams on one day and that your exam schedule is clear to them.  Ideally, you would move your Thursday exams to Tuesday (if you want to test early).

Finals:  It is important that all classes have some type of assessment or activity during their final period.  If you feel you need to do something different than this, please let us know.  Grades need to be finalized by January 4th at midnight.  Report cards will be distributed on January 6th. 

PD Day - Just a reminder we will have a Professional Develoment day on January 3rd.  Attached HERE is a rough agenda.  Please let us know if you have any questions. 

12 Days of Christmas -  

     * Monday - In your mailboxes, you have a little bag of candy to share with your students.  Holidays is a time of sharing and we wanted you to be able to offer a suprise and delight to your favorite people!  We will have you pass them out 2nd period to give everyone time to gather their bags. 

      * Tuesday - Our Christmas meal will be Tuesday, catered from Bill and Dave's.  Hope you enjoy.  

Early College Meetings: 

          * Monday, December 19th - College Freshmen will be returning to speak to 11th and 12th graders.   12th Grade:  3rd Period     11th Grade:  4th Period        ICC Teachers - Lunch with college freshmen to learn about college rigor and trends they are seeing  (11:24 - 12:24  High School Library)

          * Tuesday, December 20th - Early College Mentor Meeting with students - during first WIN (Teachers involved in this will have a detailed email from Dana.)

Faculty Meeting:  Tuesday, December 20th, we will have our faculty meeting at 7:25 a.m.  We will have a light breakfast, special guests presenting and more. See you then!  

PSAT Data:  High School Math and English teachers will meet first WIN on Wednesday, December 21st to look at PSAT data.  Dana Harris has created an outstanding document that will help us see our strengths and weaknesses!  We will meet in Jason Barnett's Room.

Junior High House Competition - Last two periods on Thursday!  (Competition is close!  Thanks to Mrs. Blake and all of the teachers for making this fun and meaninful for students!)

Hot Chocolate - Phil and Dana will have hot chocolate available for students on Tuesday during 2nd and 3rd periods.  Details will be forthcoming.

Why I Hate Christmas

  

 I wanted to share the above video where Trevor Muir shares his experience with a student, not being excited about Christmas Break.  I feel like the video is a good reminder about the reality some of our students are faced with duringt his time of year and the positive impact that each of you have on our students each and everyday.  The video is less than 4 minutes, I hope you take time to listen!

Important Information: 

Last Few Days:  Please remember to keep students busy the last few days of the semester.  The final exam schedule will be as follows:  December 21 - 2,4,6       December 22 - 1,3,5,7    Students should have normal days all of the way up to this point.  Playing educational games, reading engaging text and other purposeful learning activites are important!  

Finals:  It is important that all classes have some type of assessment or activity during their final period.  If you feel you need to do something different than this, please let us know.  Grades need to be finalized by January 4th at midnight.  

PD Day - Just a reminder we will have a Professional Develoment day on January 3rd.  An agenda will follow next week.  

12 Days of Christmas -   “Two Scoops, sir? Two?  Make it three!  I am not driving!”   Ice Cream Sandwiches on Monday!!! Also, as a bonus, feel free to wear jeans the rest of this semester!

Early College Meeting - Dana is arranging for current college freshmen to come back and speak to our juniors and seniors on Monday, December 19th.  She will be sending a schedule.  Also, teachers who teach courses in the Indiana College Core will be invited to eat lunch with our college friends on this same day.  Our goal is to ask them about rigor and their experiences and how we can embed better practices that will help our students continue to be successful in college.  

Faculty Meeting:  Tuesday, December 20th, we will have our faculty meeting at 7:25 a.m.  We will have a light breakfast, special guests presenting and more. See you then!  (Also this day is our 12 days of Christmas feast!  Come hungry on the 20th!)  

Socratic Seminar

 

This week, I was honored to visit Jennifer Ball's classroom as she was teaching socratic seminar strategies to her Honors English 10 students.  They were reading the book, Farenheit 451, and they will use this strategy to deepen student understanding through active thinking along with learning how to listen and communicate with each other, which are the golden nuggests of this protocol.    

Jennifer had students run a practice seminar and she videoed the experience of her students.  She then provided students a rubric for how to communicate and allowed them to watch the video of themselves and pick out what good looked like and areas they needed to improve in.  She really took time to use students to model the experience she wanted all students to have!  I have no doubt that all students will participate in a meaningful manner this week when they run their seminar for her!

If any of you are interested in running a Socratic Seminar in your class, Jennifer is a our expert!  I hope to have an opportunity at our next PD day to learn from Jennifer about this great teaching tool! She has great rubrics that I am sure she will share! 

Important Information: 

Tis the Season - Please find our "Home Alone" Version of 12 days of Christmas in your mailboxes!  Something fun for the last few days before break!  Monday we will have Auntie Anne pretzels as a bonus day - delivered to the high school office around 12:00 p.m.

Early College Mentor Meeting:  Dana is leading us in an Early College Mentor meeting on Tuesday morning at 7:30 a.m. in the high school library.  She sent an email to the teachers it will affect.  We look forward to seeing all of you there!  

CTE Open House - Thursday, December 8th will be a BIG day!  Perry Central will be hosting a lunch and learn for all of our community partners along with a ribbon cutting for our CTE building.  Many students and teachers will be involved:  Mrs. Howe's Honors English 12 class is developing an advocacy presentation and Carrie Guillaume, Josh Craney, Tim Ball, Michael Jarboe, and Kris Walsh will have students participate as well.  Our goal is to show our community the great things happening at Perry Central and find more ways to create partnerships that benefit our students and community.  

  ** By the way, as next year's legislative session gets closer to starting, you are going to hear a lot about High School Redesign and Diploma Flexibility.  Tara Bishop was asked to sit on a panel at the Superintendent's Association Conference with Indiana Superintendent of Education, Katie Jenner, so she could talk about the work at Perry Central and how we are already working in this "Redesign" space.  The work we are doing to increase STEM opportunities, connecgting to industry partners and credentials of currency through our Early College High School and Industry Certifications is helping us stay ahead of the game!  It will be an interesting legislative year, but one that will help us move forward with the work we are doing.  Kudos to all of you for helping make it happen!

Assistant Lunch and Learn:  Friday, December 9th, we will have an Assistant Lunch and Learn.  The Office will be providing pizza on this day.  Special Education teachers have been working to develop this training opportunity.  We hope to make it a monthly event!  I know some of you eat lunch 5th period.  If you can please email me if this is the case, we can make arrangements for one of your WIN classes to be covered so you can attend.  Unless you hear differently, we will meet in the high school library.  This will be during both lunches - so only come during your lunch time.  

Resources: 

PBL Resources:  As we continue on this journey to authentic learning opportunities, I want to share resources with you!  I found this information from Trevor Muir.  He has a lot of great ideas and a book that talks about how to set your room up for collaboration!  HERE are some resources I thought may be helpful as you think about moving forward in the PBL/Workplace Challenge World! 

Unite and Connect:   PASSWORD is a fun game to play with students, especially around vocabulary you are working on for your subject!  Thought I would share this resource - could be a fun Unite and Connect activity or a game to fill some time in a meaninful way!

Infinate Games

 

I just started a new book this weekend, The Infinte Game by Simon Sinek.  In his book, Sinek talks about the difference between finite and infinite games.  In Finite games, like football or chess, the players are known, the rules are fixed and the end point is clear.  Winners and losers are easily defined.  On the contrast, infinte games, like education or politics or life, the players come and go, rules are changeable and there is no defined endpoint.  There are no winners or losers in an infinate game; one can only be ahead or behind.  

From Simon Sinek's viewpoint, as an organization, it is best to lead your organization or classroom in infinite games.  Infinite games build stronger, more innovative and inspiring organizations that are built on trust and become change-agents in our world, instead of staying focused on winning games that are not even important, like state testing! Staying focused on meeting students where they are and taking them as far as we can go (with no clearly defined ending) will lead us to greater success in the end; moving our students ahead and bettering our society.  I feel like all of you are infinite game leaders.  You are always working hard to inspire our students, build cultures of trust and innovation in the classroom and inspire our youth to be change-makers in our society.  

I want to thank all of you for your openness to learning more about a poly-tech approach to learning;  integrating project based learning/work place challenges along with our focus on relationships and credentials of currency in the workplace.  This shows your drive to creating innovative, edcuational experiences that can better prepare our students for the 21st century, that could impact many generations to come. 

Happy Birthday to Phil on Monday!!!!!

Important Information: 

Poly-Tech Visit - On Monday, November 28th, we will be hosting several individuals from New York.  They are the team helping Indiana develop poly-tech high schools.  Perry Central is excited to be written into the grant with the opportunity to expand our programming.  The high school library will be closed on Monday for our meeting.  We will also be giving a tour of the school from 8:30 - 9:00.

PBL Training - Reminder to junior high teachers that you are encouraged to participate in PBL training from Dawn Lynch and Emilee Brinkman.  The next meeting is December 15th from 3:15 - 4:15.  If you want to see what you will be learning, you can click HERE to see their "commercial".  We are grateful to be learning through all of this together!

Upcoming Dates: 

November 30 - 11th grade field trip 

December 1 - Spanish students to Nut Cracker

December 5 - Surprise and Delight - Auntie Anne's Pretzels

December 6 - Early College Mentoring Meeting 7:25 - 8:00 a.m. (Invitations will be sent by Dana)

December 8 - CTE Ribbon Cutting/Open House  11:00 - 1:00 

December 19 - Returning College Freshmen to speak to 11th and 12th grade & Early College Teachers

December 20 - Faculty Meeting 

December 21 - Finals for Periods 2,4,6

December 22 - Finals for Periods 1,3,5,7

                                                 CREATE - Authentic Learning Opportunities:

Workplace Challenge - Michael Jarboe and Glenn Etienne will be in partnership with the Civil Engineering class after break as they develop their workplace challenges.  Glenn Etienne from CES has agreed to come in and talk to students about his company and the work he does along with giving them a couple of challenges:  

                1.  CTE Parking Stalls - students will use distance/angles to maximize use of space using 100 ft tape, paper, pencil and creative minds!  They will present their plans back to Glenn.  

                2.  Drainage Project As-Builts - document the location, elevations, slopes and pize sizes of new drainage systems (as-builts).  

8th Grade PBL - Science and English teachers are working together for a Project Based Learning opportunity.  Students are learning about Environmental Science including water quality, forestry and soil quality and then they will be producing an informational text in English about their findings.  The audience is our community.  Looking forward to their final products.  Thank you, teachers, for being vulnerable and trying something new!

Influence

 

  I was reminded of this quote from Trevor Muir this week when my former high school assistant principal, Ed Ransom, posted on Facebook.  He told a story about Owen Lynch, his former English Teacher and Coach and the impact he had on his professional career.  (He also mentioned that you would have to be over 60 to remember who Mr. Lynch was!)  

Teaching is a challenging but very rewarding career.  You are all making an impact on students in ways that will influence them for the rest of their lives.  There are not many professions that get to say that!

I also know this heart work is exhausting at times - so I hope all of you enjoy your Thanksgiving break with your families.  

THANK YOU:  This weekend, I listened to a podcast from Andy Stanley about the importance of expressing gratitude.  He said that gratitude not expressed really feels like ingratitute to the people around you.  His podcast reminded me about the importance of making sure the people in my life know how much I appreciate them - that includes all of you.   The way you care for children and the pride you have in our school community leaves me speechless each day.   I appreciate you all more than you know.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart. 

To celebrate, we will wear jeans this week!  Hope you enjoy!  Also, on Tuesday, we will have Dunkin Donuts to help you get you through the day!  

Important Information: 

STEM Grant - On Monday and Tuesday this week, there are teams of teachers (who were notified by email) that will be listening to a grant presentation during WIN/Lunch.  If you have questions about the invitation, please let me know!  The invitation is focused on STEM teachers (Science, Math, Next Level Program of Study, AP teachers) and junior high teachers.  This is aligned to the STEM grant.  (If anyone else just wants to join - you are welcome!)  

Assistant Survey - We are working on some professional development for teaching assistants.  Assistants, please take THIS SURVEY by the end of the day Tuesday so we can start planning to meet your needs!  

Pitch-In - Don't forget about the pitch-in on Monday for lunch!  

Upcoming Important Dates: 

    

    Monday, November 28th - We will be hosting our friends from New York and CELL for a training through our Poly-Tech Grant.  Thanks to Michael, Josh and Dana for attending along with our business partners Glenn Etienne, Susan Miller and Pam Metz.

    Wednesday, November 30th - Junior Field Trip to Terre Haute/ RECN Quad meeting at Bedford North Lawrence (RECN Team)

     

     Thursday, December 1 - Spanish students to the Nutcracker 

     Thursday, December 8 - CTE Open House during lunch 

    

The Extra Mile

 

This past week, I had the priviledge of riding one of our special education buses that picks up students in the mornings, driven by Kevin Koelling.  It is a long ride (about an hour) and there are several stops along the way, down the long windy roads.  The students he picks up are truly special and make you smile, but some morning do not like riding the bus, leaving them crying and upset all of the way to school.  

Kevin has been working hard to help the students feel comfortable everytime they step on his bus.  He is making a sound track with students' favorite songs, using music to sooth their ride.  He also ensures that everyone who rides with him as a bus monitor knows what each students needs and the best way to support them, keeping close contact with family members and Mr. Walsh, the students' teacher of record.  

The ride for me last week reminded me of how lucky our community is to have individuals like Kevin, and all of you, who go above and beyond, caring for our children each and every day.  So from the bottom of my heart, thank you for seeing the positives in each child (even on days when it is hard) and going the extra mile to ensure they are loved and find success.   It truly is #good2bgreen!

Important Information: 

PLC Meetings:  Thanks for your time last week and Lunch and Learns.  Hopefully you found the time valuable for reflecting on your Marzano Elements.  We are back to normal PLC meetings this week.  I also have heard a lot of great ways you are using WIN.   Thank you for working hard to ensure all students are learning - even if they need a 2nd time to get it!

PBIS Lesson: Be on the look-out for the PBIS lesson for this week from Phil!  He is planning for everyone to give the lesson on Tuesday during 2nd period.  Thank you for helping with this important lesson!

Tutoring:  Reminder if you have students that need tutoring, you can use the Learning Lunch/8th Period request form but select tutoring.  Alyssa Hill is available for high school students 1st WIN in the Learn and Leave room.  She appreciates a little heads up so she can study the material a bit before helping the students.  We also have several great options after school.  

9th Grade Field Trip:  All 9th grade students will be participating in a field trip on Wednesday, November 16th.  Thanks to Dana for arranging this - it isn't easy to get all of the locations to coordinate!

STEM Grant: Perry Central is excited to be a receipeint of a STEM Grant.  The grant is aimed to increase Workplace Challenges and Project Based Learning in the classroom.  For the grant and STEM certification, we had to identify our STEM teachers, which mostly consist of Next Level Program of Study (Pathway) along with science and math dual credit teachers.  I will be reaching out to this team by email for a meeting on Friday, November 18th during your WIN time to help get us started!  

  

In the News

 

This past week, I found a couple of current event articles that I thought you may enjoy!  The first one is from Inside Indiana Business newsletter. This article talks about the declining number of individuals that are going on to post-secondary education and the fears on how it will effect the economy.  As you read the article, remember that post-secondary education means anything beyond a high school diploma:  2 year degree, 4 year degree, military training, industry certification. This is important information to share with our students as they determine their future plans.  Growing Gap between Talent and Demand   

This second article from Chalkbeat talks about 2022 HB 1251 and the call to cut the number of standards by 25%.  The legislative bill also calls for the state to determine the essential (power) standards as well.  Currently the State Board of Education is vetting this work with business and industry partners.  We will need to be o the look-out for these changes.  What do Indiana students need to know?

Important Information: 

Lunch and Learns:  Remember we will not have normal PLC meetings this week, but instead will have Lunch and Learns around our SFS goals (Marzano Elements).  Below you will find a schedule and meeting locations.  You may want to bring your computers to maximize your time.  This will be a guided discussion, but will hopefully be helpful to ensuring you are meeting your SFS goals.

  (Some of you are connected to more than one PLC group - attend the group you set your SFS goals with.)   

Monday, November 7 - Island Team, Social Studies Team, Location: Computer Science Room,  Marzano Element: Previewing

Tuesday, November 8 - Science, Math, English Team, Location: High School Library, Marzano Element: Highlighting Critical Information

Friday, November 11 - Special Education, Location: Heidi's Room,  Marzano Element: Reflecting on Learning

Instructional Rounds:  This week, we will also conduct Instructional Rounds on Monday, November 7.  Remember Instructional Rounds is a way to reflect on your own teaching and learn from other teacher friends!  I sent the schedule out to you last week, but HERE is another copy.  Please look at the day and the period and make sure it works for you.  You will have a substitute come into your class during that time.  

   Also, in your mailboxes on Monday morning, I will have a reflection sheet for you.  Please use that sheet to document your time.  If you can please turn that into Jody's mailbox at the end of your instructional round, that would be great!

Veteran's Day:  Our own Seth Gehlhausen will be our special guest speaker at Veteran's Day Program on Friday, November 11.  Students in grades 9-12 will be released by intercom at the beginning of 2nd period to the high school gym for the event.  Band members will be released earlier for their performance.  After the event, we will have a walk-through for our veteran community members.  Details will be released closer to Friday.  

Have a Great WEEK!

Discussion Strategies

 

           Trevor Muir shared this timely article this week!  His five favorite discussion strategies!  We all know students learn more when they are doing most of the talking, just like in the study we read about last week on the blog.   Here are some great, easy strategies to try!

https://www.trevormuir.com/blog/class-discussion-strategies?fbclid=IwAR0LjQyuuvVJ-hnVvHy_fiwHDitm2IicjSOtpcRv0jg4BL5K0rkdIIM6Aa8

Important Information: 

Faculty Meeting - Our next Facutly Meeting will be November 8th.  We will have PBIS lessons to share and we will model some discussion strategies - it is guaranteed to be fun!  

Instructional Rounds - We are working on an Instructional Rounds schedule for the week of November 7th.  Sheila is going to see which two days we can get subs in the buildin (either November 7 &8 or 8&9).   Thank you to those who filled out the Instructional Rounds survey.  This will be helpful to me when scheduling to make sure you get to see something helpful to you!  If you haven't filled out this form, please do so by the end of the day on Monday.  If you can't remember - you can ask me or just fill it out again!  It is very quick!  Instructional Rounds Form

Lunch and Learn - Next week, we are asking that teams NOT meet during their normal PLC times.  We are going to host Lunch and Learns for teams based on the Marzano Element that you are working on for your professional goal for SFS.  The goal of the Lunch and Learn is to help you find time to reflect on your practices, learn from each other, and make sure you are meeting the goals for your evaluation.  Below are the dates of meetings - all meetings will be from 11:45 - 12:24 in Kris Walsh's Computer Science Room.   The lunch menu will be shared closer to time.

              Monday, November 7 - Island Team/Social Studies Team

              Tuesday, November 8 - Science, Math, English Teams

              Friday, November 11 - Special Education Team 

ASPIRE - This Wednesday, November 2nd, Perry Central is hosting all 10th grade females from the county for ASPIRE.  This event is basically Career Speed Dating!  Students will get to interacted with over 48 female leaders in a variety of industries.  Our male students will be reporting to Tell City and doing the same there.    This is a wonderful event for our students and community to learn more about local opportunities.  Thanks to Dana and her team for organizing the event.    

       On this day, 10th grade boys will be released by intercom around 8:30 so they can travel to Tell City.  Girls will be released around 8:45 to the library to get their shirts and then they will be heading down to the gym.  

Enterprise Networking Session - This Wednesday, November 2nd, Carol Schwoeppe and Adam Stowe are taking a team of students to the first ever Conexus Indiana Enterprise Networking Session.  Josh Craney has prepared a Commoodore Manufacturing team to present to other student enterprise programs.  The idea is to help students connect and learn from each other in this workbased learning model.  We are proud of our enterprise program and look forward to expanding enterprises across our pathways. y

COIN Wars - Coin Wars end this Thursday.  I have a plan to try to get the teachers in position to win!!!  I think we would all LOVE to have cinnamon rolls one morning!  Don't forget to bring your coins and support the student council!!!  (I am hiding all of my change from Justin!)   

Upcoming Dates: 

November 16th - Freshmen College Trip

November 17th - OFS Field Trip (will be a mix of 11th and 12th grade students) 

Active Learning

 Below, I shared this study I ran across last week.  It isn't surprising to me, but really a call to continue to increase ways to authentically engage our students.  I feel many of you do a great job of active learning as well and this is just re-assurance you are doing the right thing!  

You can find the link to the article HERE. The picture below gives you a visual for the research.  If you want to increase active learning or more discourse among students, the Edutopia Article below offers some great reminders/ideas!   (At our next faculty meeting, Ty Guillaume is going to help us model a socratic seminar, another great way to increase student conversations!)

9 Strategies for Getting More Students To Talk  (Great tips for increasing student discourse!)

Important Information: 

    PD Day Agenda:  You can find the agenda for the PD day HERE.  Please let us know if you have any questions/concerns about the day.  I am excited to see how much you accomplish and help our students move forward!  

   8th Grade Field Trip:  On Thursday, October 27th, all 8th grade students will be participating in the Tour of Opportunity in Perry County.  Students will get to visit ATTC, Waupaca, Perry County Memorial Hospital and Ivy Tech (they will have a variety of career experiences for them.)  Students will report to 1st period and be released by intercom.  Thanks to Carol for organizing this event for PC!

End of 12 Weeks:  This Friday, October 28th will be the end of the 12 weeks for 7th grade students.  Please help them report to their new class rotation on Monday, October 31st!

Aspire:  All 10th grade students will be participating in a career event on November 2nd.  Perry Central will host the girls from PC, Cannelton and TC and Tell City will host the boys.  We will have many career experts coming in to speak with students - it is like speed dating but for careers!  Thanks to Dana for organizing this! 

Z-Space:  On Thursday, November 3rd, a company called Z-Space will be at Perry Central during our lunch hour to show us some of their products.  This opportunity will be focused on our CTE teachers.  It provides AR/VR learning enviornments.  Right now, it is just an opportunity for all of us to experience new ways to bring learning to life and some lunch!  We will send you a detail plan soon!

Resource:  I found this activity in a CTE newsletter I receive.  It is an activity to help students understand their roles in groups and how their behaviors can have positive or negative effects on the work that is being accomplished!  It looks like fun and would lend itself to great conversations about learning!  ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS

Manufacturing Day:  Josh Craney has been organizing several field trips for first and second year students in advanced manufacturing.  Small groups of students will visit several manufacturing facilities in the area, they will take the information they learned and present it back to other students in our building.  It is a lot of work to organize, but a great way for students to learn about manufacturing in our region.  Thanks, Josh, for your work!

Out - I will be out Monday and Tuesday to a training in New York to see a Poly-Tech High School.  Basically, a Poly-Tech high school is a model where they use Project Based (authentic learning ) opportunities to teach all of their standards.  Poly-Tech incorporates Early College, Project Based Learning (Workplace Challenges), Industry Credentials, etc.  to promote learning to all students.  The 3E Grant we are a part of will give us two years to find ways to connect to this research based model!

Remember Our VISION:  Connect, Collaborate, Create (Authentic Learning opportunities) and CELEBRATE our success!  

The Learning Pit

 

At the math conference on Thursday, I was reminded about the Learning Pit.  This is a GREAT visual to talk to students about the cycle of learning.  All of us are in the learning pit each day - if we knew everything, we there wouldn't be a school!  Helping students recognize when they are in the pit and the steps it takes to get out (and the realization that it is hard work and resiliency) will teach them what it takes to be successful.  I think you could add a lot of things to this poster on how to get out of the pit such as:  practicing skills, asking questions, working with their peers, searching for more information, and the list goes on. Wouldn't it be cool to brainstorm a list of things that bring success with students?  I also love how this visual shows a little celebration when there is success, because think we should always celebrate our learning!  

I also think this is a great representation for all of the adults in the building, as well.  Teaching can feel like an uphill battle somedays.  It is a lot of hard work to help our students find their way out of the pit.  We need to remember use each other as resources, mentors, emotional support, etc. to dig our way out!  We should always celebrate our success, too!    

One more week until Fall Break!  We can do it!

Important Information: 

Faculty Meeting - We will have our monthly faculty meeting on Tuesday, October 11th at 7:25 a.m.  A light breakfast will be served.  Topics of discussion include: tutoring, discipline data, classroom management tips/tricks, Indiana's new GPS model

Tip of the Week:  Don't forget the power of Unite & Connect (Brain Smart Start) Activities!  These activities help students get their brains ready for learning.  Connecting with others is the joy juice that resets and regulates the brain.  

     HERE is a great blog link with some Unite and Connect ideas.  I know many of you have great ideas too.  I have noticed teachers posting riddles, having students jump over chairs, word guessing games, throwing fingers with a partner and trying to get them to add to 11, etc.  

Pep Session:   To celebrate our cross team advancing to regionals and volleyball/football sectionals, we will have a Pep Session Thursday afternoon, October 13.  Students will be released at 2:25.  The Pep Session Bell Schedule is below.   We are going to have grades 9-12 sit on the bottom section of the south side of the gym and grades 7&8 on the bottom of the north side so we can get them involved a little more!  

Pep Session Schedule

12:28-1:08 5th Period

1:12-1:52 6th Period

1:56-2:29 7th Period

2:30-3:00 Pep Session

MTSS:  Don't forget to fill out the MTSS form for any student that you have any concerns for.  We appreciate you taking a couple of seconds to fill out the form HERE.  Please do this by Tuesday.

Grades:  Just a reminder that grades will roll over on Wednesday night at mid-night.  Please remember the following important things: 

       * Trend Scores - make sure you update trend scores 

       * Reporting Topics - if your grades look off, it may be a reporting topic issues.  Please see Jody or Phil to help.  Also, be thinking about reporting topics for next quarter. 

       * If you need to put in an Incomplete, you will need to have Jody or Phil do this for you.  Send names to the office.  

House Competitions:  This week is a busy week for junior high houses.  On Wednesday, they will have a pumpkin carving contest during their House meeting and Friday is their first quarterly competition which includes kickball tourney and more.  Good luck to our teams - you can see the House scores outside of Mrs. Blake's office!!

PSAT:  Just a reminder that the PSAT will be this Wednesday, October 12th.  Dana has been sending a lot of information out to all of you.  Please let us know if you have any questions/concerns.  

Athletics:  Congratulations to Jason & Heidi and the Cross Country team!  The boys will run in the regionals this coming Saturday at Crawford County along with Summer Guillaume and Savannah Schaad!    Also, girls volleyball sectional begins this Thursday evening.  Perry Central plays the first game at 5:30 p.m.  Perry Central is the volleyball sectional host - so come on out and support the lady Commodores!

Unplug

 

As we get to the end of our first grading period this week,  we may find ourselves struggling to get out of bed and dreaming about Fall Break.  We are almost there!  The picture on the left reminded me of the importance of fall break and really unplugging for our own mental health.

One of the hardest things for me to do is unplug.  It is just how I am wired!  BUT, I recognize that I need to take time to do this for myself, my family and the other people around me.  I have been working hard at making time to take a walk outside or help feed on our farm for at least an hour 3 times a week. 

Taking care of yourself is necessary.  As Jules Alvarado says, "You cannot give, what you do not posses," meaning we cannot give our best to people if we are not at our best.  So, I challenge all of you to continue to work hard, serve others and take time to breathe!

To help us get through the next two weeks, Janet arranged a surprise and delight for us this week!  Wednesday, October 5, Emma Kelly will be delivering some of her wonderful homemade granola bars.  Come and enjoy!

Important Information: 

MTSS: - Just a reminder to please fill out this form for students that are struggling.  The form is helpful because it allows you to give a little description of how the students are struggling.  You don't have to write a lot, for example: struggling with content, struggling to stay focused, attendance, etc.  Please have students listed by Monday, October 10th.  That is the Monday after the end of the grading period. 

Grading Period:  The first grading period ends on Friday, October 7th.  Grades will "dump" on Wednesday, October 12th at midnight.  Please do not forget to update trend grades.   

House Updates:  House leaders met last week to determine our next challenges for the junior high students.  On Wednesday, October 12th, students will have a pumpkin carving team contest during their house time.  Houses can use this Wednesday to prepare what they will carve, etc.  Also, on Friday, October 14th, we will have our first big challenge.  We will start the activities in the middle of 6th period and we will run through 7th period that day.   Students can start earning house points for getting to class on time and staying out of learning lunch!  Thanks to Lauren and all of the teachers for their leadership!

Upcoming Dates:   

Tuesday, October 11 - Faculty Meeting 7:24

Wednesday, October 12 - PSAT  (Dana will be sending out details - will affect mostly 9th and 10th grade students

Practice of the Week: 

Anchor Charts - If you have ever wanted to learn how to use an anchor chart, Jennifer Ball is your lady! Like an anchor, an anchor chart holds the students' and teachers thoughts in place.  Anchor charts are usually displayed as a reminder of prior learning and builds over several lessons!   Jennifer and the students created a great anchor chart together on writing memiors and they referred back to the chart a lot during class. It was a great tool for learning - she will keep this posted for students as they continue to develop their writing skills throughout the school year! 

Enterprise Programs:  If you want to know how to develop an Enterprise program with your class or pathway, Josh Craney has it down pat.  Students start class on their own daily and they are all engaged in meaningful, authentic work.  His business partners continue to expand!  We hope to have more enterprise programs across our building in the next year or so - they are such a great way for students to learn!      

We are always Learning: Several teachers are involved in professional development opportunities this week.  Continuing to learn and grow in our profession is so important - thanks for also modeling this for our students!  

 * 3E Grant - Perry Central is 1 of 5 schools that are a part of a Poly-Tech Advanced Manufacturing Pathway grant.  Josh Craney, Michael Jarboe, Dana Harris and Laura Purcell along with two business partners will be traveling to Indy on Tuesday to learn more about the opportunities with this grant.  We will either be strengthening our current pathway (which is already strong) or adding a SMART Manufacturing 4.0 pathway.  

* IMLI Training:  Debbie Dauby, Emma Bettag, and Dawn Lynch will be traveling to Indianapolis Wednesday night for an early training Thursday morning in Indy.  This is for the Indiana Mathematics Leadership Institute.  This program started in the summer and will continue throughout the school year.  

* SIEC Accelerating Learning Network:  Alyssa Howe, Jennifer Ball, Ashley Hubert and Phil Zellers will be traveling to Jasper on Wednesday to continue to learn about teacher credibility and accelerating learning strategies.  This is a year-long commitment as well.  Brennan, Abe, Abbie, Heidi and Sean attended last year and are still working with their mentor.  

* Readable English: Kris Walsh and Heidi Zellers are using a program called Readable English to help students who struggle with reading.  Our school trainer will be with them this Wednesday for a check-in.

Perry Central had a great weekend and was represented well . . .  EVERYWHERE!

* Varsity Football Team won a big game against West Washington Friday night. Our boys are always so respectful of the other team.  We are in the hunt to be conference champs!  Senior nigh is this Friday, October 7th.

* Cross County - Both boys and girls cross teams won the conference meet on Saturday!  Ty's daughter, Summer, placed first in the girls race.  Sectional is next weekend!

* Farm To Table - The FFA helped fix a great community meal using their home grown lettuce, corn and peppers Saturday Night.  Carrie Guillaume led a great team of students who served community members at the Farm to Table Celebration, hosted by the Perry County Development Committee. 

* Fall Semi-Formal:  Mary Jo always knows how to throw a party!  The dance floor was full and all of the students had a great time.  The cafeteria was beautiful!

  

Success & Failure Together

 

 

 Someone posted this on Facebook this weekend and it struck me; first as funny, but then as the truth.  It is so easy to get into our same routines and practices because we know they work and the outcome always feels safe.  Seriously, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," right?!? 

While there is a little truth in that statement, Andy Stanley, a Leadership Enthusiast, reminds us that success and failure go together.  When we work on anything  worthwhile (a marriage/relationship, coach a team, teach/impact youth) we should always expect it to be an uphill battle and expect that we will fail.  The key to success is to never make excuses for these failures, only adjustments.  Learning from mistakes is the most powerful way to move forward.

Failure in life is inevitable.  I think we must teach our children this and model the importance of never letting fear get in the way of progress and learning.  

As you move into this week, I want to challenge all of you to "stink" at something this week!  Take a risk, expect failure and celebrate the success that comes from it.   You will be glad you did!  

HERE is an article from Forbes about the power of failing as well!

Important Information: 

Best Practices of the Week:  

                    CREATING Engaging Lessons: 

     
     * Carol Schwoeppe had a great interest approach this week as she talked about the future of work.  She showed a video clip of the Jetsons (I am not sure the kids knew who they were - but I did!)  Interest Approaches are a great way to get student's attention and build engagement and excitement into the lesson.  

         

 * Seth Gehlhausen told his PLC team that he has noticed an 80% increase in student participation by using playing cards in his room.  Each students gets a playing card and he draws - basically selecting students randomly to answer questions or participate.  This is one great example of a total participation technique and a great formative assessment tool.  See Seth for details!  

               COLLABORATING Teams:

           * Social Studies team set goals to try some visible learning strategies around disciplinary literacy last week.  They each tried a new strategy and then at their PLC on Friday they shared their struggles and successes!  It was a great day of learning and collaborating!

House Leader Meeting - We will have a House Leader Meeting for teachers on Thursday, September 29th at 7:30 a.m.  Lauren would like to brainstorm some surprise and delight ideas and create a schedule for small competitions.  We will also have our quarterly competition on Friday, October 14th - details to come!  See you this Thursday morning!

AVID - Tuesday, a small group of junior high teachers will travel to Paoli to learn about a program called AVID.  We learned about this opportunity through our Early College Network.  Basically, AVID is a system that could be really helpful in developing those important executive functioning skills for our students - there is a whole school and tier 2 system - we are thinking we would focus on grades 6-8.   We know we will learn a lot from our friends down the road!  

        We will also be hosting a lunch and learn on Friday, September 30th from an AVID representative.  Our friends from Crawford County are going to come to the meeting as well to learn with us. 

MTSS - As we end the first 9 weeks, we would like to start collecting names of students that are struggling academically so our MTSS team can meet.   Please fill out the following form for students that are struggling in your class.  It is quick and easy.  Please add names by October 5th.  

           MTSS Form 

College GO! Week - Just a reminder this is College Go! Week!  Teachers are encouraged to wear jeans and also a shirt or something to represent where they gained their training from!  Thanks to Dana for pulling the week together.

Welcome Alyssa - Some of you may start seeing a familiar face this week.  Alyssa Hill is going to be an assistant for us.  She is going to school on-line for education and wanted to gain some experiences. No better place to learn than at school!  We are happy to have her join us!

        

Engaging Students

    Twitter can such a great way to network with other great educators across the country.  Tyler Rablin posted a great thread about the importance of  working with students, instilling confidence, promoting engagement, understanding their fears and treating them with respect and dignity each day.  Can we get an AMEN?

"Today I sat down with a student who hasn't done anything in class so far (7 days in).  All I told him was that I will give him feedback and another shot on it no matter what.     Guess who turned something in today?  It highlighted something important for me.

To everyone who's going to be like, "So we don't expect kids to try?!  We just let them do whatever they want and get as many chances as they want?! How's that going to help them in life?!" . . .  you are missing an absolutely crucial piece of what's happening here.  

Are some students prioritizing other things and often doing a really bad job at it?  Yes.  There are a thousand other things kids may want to do instead of trying to learn.  But, I've found that " "laziness"  is rarely the real reason kids aren't willing to engage in an assignment.  I've found two major reasons why students are afraid to even start an assignment (which is different than not finishing an assignment).  

The first is this: If a student is worried they might not be successful on the task, then not attempting it allows them to hold onto hope that they could have been successful on it.  If I don't attempt something, I don't have any evidence to support the fact that I am "not good enough," and for students who lack academic confidence, they are so afraid of confronting that reality that they attempt to preserve their own ego, their identity, their hope (or however you want to phrase it) by not attempting it at all.  In this case, not attempting to try is a defense mechanism.  

The other reason I see for not even starting an assignment is that they already feel like they've lost the ability to be successful.  This typically comes down to grading practices that don't value growth.  If my goal is an A and my teacher is averaging my assignments over time, if I get an irreversible D on an assignment, I might have already lost the ability to reach my goal.  (Let's ignore the problematic aspect of using a measure as a goal for now.)  While we would like kids to see growth as the goal, that's not the educational culture we exist in.  when the possibility of meeting a goal gets taken away, it shouldn't surprise us that someone doesn't want to work towards the goal.  

Does this mean we don't also include consequences?  Sure, at some point, yes.  But, I don't think we need to sacrifice the humanity of what we do with kids to get them to comply.  There's a balance.  There has to be a balance, but in that balance, humanity has to come first.  If we can help a student course correct and develop different habits early, we have to try.  Promising them that they will get feedback and another shot is one of the best ways I have found to help a student be willing to attempt something in our classes when they've lost the drive, desire, or ability to even begin." 

                                                                                    - Tyler Rablin @Mr_Rablin, ELA Teacher

Important Information: 

Faculty Meeting:  We will have our first faculty meeting on Tuesday, September 20th at 7:25 a.m. in the high school library.  We will have a few updates and our counselors will be sharing some classroom management tips/tricks.  A light breakfast will be served.

Assistant Swop - The elementary had a handful of assistants already decide to do something else and move out of our school family, causing some changes for our building.  Brandi Devillez is going to move to the elementary and we will welcome Charlie Baumeister on Monday to take her place.  Charlie will actually work from 6:45 - 12:45 daily.  There are a few other small changes that have taken place as well.  You can find the assistant schedules on the table titled "assistant schedules" on the document HERE.  This document is also a great quick glance of students with IEPs and 504 plans.  Please remember it is confidential.  If you have an assistant at any time of the day, you may check this document to make sure there are no changes!  Thanks!

For your planning:  To help you think ahead, I wanted you to know that our next PD day, October 24th, you will have a majority of the time to work in your PLC team on your curriculum (scope and sequence, assessments, table grading - whatever your team needs).  You can use this time to plan for quarter 2.  More details will be forthcoming, but thought it may be helpful to know.

            * 1st Quarter Scope and Sequence and Power Standard assessments will be due to Jody the last Friday of October.  (This is after you will have time to finalize everything at the PD day)

            * Marzano Elements - reminder your personal growth goal is due in SFS by October 7th (this is what we worked on during our PD day last time, so hopefully you are finished already or have a good start!)  All of the documents you need to track your progress can be found in the Teacher Resource folder under Marzano Elements!

            * WIN Changes - reminder about our WIN changes and priority days:  Monday - English, Tuesday - Math, Wednesday - Island, Thursday - Social Studies, Friday - Science     Looking forward to hearing how you worked out two days a week to focus on reteaching bubble students!

Vocabulary Strategy - Emma Bettag has been working hard to build vocabulary in her math classes!  She started a word wall for students and she adds to it as she teaches them the core content!  Robert Marzano, educational researcher, talks a lot about the importance of building vocabulary for students in order to promote learning!  HERE is a link to Marzano's 6 step process!  Remember, you only do this process for the 20-25 words you are focusing on for the year!!  Thanks, Emma, for sharing a best practice!

 

Word Wall Wisdom - 

Power of Education

 Each year, the Commission for Higher Education releases a College Readiness Report and recommendations for what Indiana should do to increase education attainment for students.  This year's report, after the pandemic, is an interesting one.  I wanted to share their research with you: 

Findings State Wide: 

* Drop in number of students attending college, significantly after the pandemic

* 62% of students earning dual credits went to college in 2020 (Early College Matters)

* 86% of students who earned Academic Honors Diploma attended college after high school (Diploma types matters)

* Equity gaps worsened during the pandemic - students on free and reduced lunch have a greater chance not to attend college and black high school graduates saw the largest decline between 2019-2020 (Remediation Matters)

* State and national research continues to clearly show education beyond high school is valuable based on wages earned, civic participation and quality of life.  Students who have more education are likely to out-live their uneducated peers.  (Early College/CTE Matter)

* Indiana is a most at risk state of job loss due to automation and artificial intelligence as nearly 2 million working-age Hoosiers do not have postsecondary credentials that are needed for this future of work. (Post-Secondary Education Matters)

Helping students continue their education beyond a high school diploma is essential for our students, community and state.  Our Early College High School Program and extensive CTE pathways are leading the state and helping us ensure that all students have the opportunity to gain vital skills beyond high school.  All of you are making a positive impact on our future - you should be proud!

Remember, the definition of College for All is:  4 year degree, 2 year degree, Apprenticeships, Industry Certifications, Military Training!  Don't confuse it with University for All!  

If you want to read the full report, you can find it below.  Thanks for all you do for our students each and everyday.  It matters.                  College Readiness Report/Recommendations

Important Information: 

* Updates for WIN/Scope & Sequence Requirements:   Phil and I made some changes to WIN based on the feedback we received at the PD Day last week.  Please find a list of changes and procedures HERE.  Your PLC Facilitators will be sharing this at your meetings this week as well.   Also, on this document you will find a requirement to turn in your first quarter scope and sequence/power standard assessments the last Friday of October to Jody.  We will continue to talk about this in the coming days.

 * Evaluations - We have been working hard to get a long observation in for all of our teachers by October 7th.  Just a reminder that you can find our notes from long/short or walk-throughs by logging into your SFS system!  After each long observation, we will meet with you - it is always great to be able to see all of the great things happening in our building! 

* STEM Certification - Dana, Vanessa and Debbie are helping us prepare paperwork and documentation to be recognized as a STEM Certified school.  This designation shows that we continue to provide project based learning, work place challenges, dual credits, certifications and collaborative approach to learning up front!  The process is a little overwhelming, but we hope the certification will show others the work all of you do daily!  We have a preliminary application meeting this Friday, virtually.

*THANK YOU - It was so great seeing all of you at the Sunrise Pep Session.  The students had a great time and they always look forward to their teachers/coaches participating.  I know it was an early morning, but I think the culture it builds is amazing!!  Who doesn't want to wake up to Jackson Allen playing Metallica!  Seriously, all of you make PC special!

Important Dates: 

* October 7 - Professional Goals Due in SFS

* September 12 - School Board Meeting, 6:30 p.m. - Library

* September 15 - RECN Network Meeting in Plainfield (Dana, Ty, Vanessa, Jody)

Focusing on the Positive

This week, I came across the quote above from Trevor Muir.  It was a reminder to me about the importance of "catching people being good".   I don't know about you, but when someone comes up to me and just says, "thanks" or "I really appreciate . . . ", etc. it makes me want to work harder and grows my own self-confidence - even as an almost 44 year old!  

In our busy roles and lives, it is very hard to remember to take time to focus on the positive and make sure we share those positive thoughts with others, especially our students.  But, taking the time to catch and share the positive vibes can make a huge difference in all of our lives.  

I found this great article from Edutopia on the power of positive phone calls home.  I hope it is helpful to you.  I am going to set a goal to reach out 5 times a week to someone in a positive way!  I challenge you to do the same!

Why a Positive Phone Call Home is Worth the Effort   (Edutopia Article)

Important Information: 

Special Visitor:  On Wednesday, August 31st, Secretary of Education, Katie Jenner, will be visiting Perry Central around 1:00 p.m.  She will be visiting the new STEM lab and Science of Reading strategies in the elementary and getting a peek at the new CTE building and talking to students about their opportunities in the Early College program in the high school.   Please be sure to dress professionally on this day!  We appreciate Dr. Jenner stopping by to see us!

News 14 Sunrise Pep Session:  We had a great first meeting to plan for the Sunrise Pep Session!  The main thing is bringing in the FOOD - please highly encourage your students to participate as we need to beat our goal of over 9,000 food items!  Also, please see the rough agenda for the Pep Session HERE.  Obviously, this is not mandatory, but the more people that are here the more fun we have!!  The Pep Session is set for September 9th.   If you want to learn the school song and cheer with the cheerleaders (surprise the kids) we will be practicing on the 6th in the afternoon!

MIT Project:   Eli Underhill, Aaron Pruett, Matthew McKeehan, and Max Donovan are competing in a competitive grant program through MIT.  The students were challenged to come up with a new product that will help solve a problem in the world.  They decided to focus on trying to solve access to clean water for people that are enduring natural disasters, homeless and for those in high poverty locations.  This week, they are finishing their application by hosting a community presentation.  Best wishes to this team.  If they win, they will get a free trip to MIT and some funding to support the development of their product!

U of E/Toyota Project:  University of Evansville and Toyota are working on a project to convert a mini-van into a traveling STEM lab.  We are grateful they asked our engineering department and manufacturing to design and fabricate the inside of their van!  Students will gain such great experiences with this project!  The van will be here Monday - we can't wait to see the changes they make!

Professional Development Day:  Tuesday, September 6th will be our first professional development day.  Students will not have school, but faculty and staff will attend for Professional Development.  Please find the rough draft of the day HERE.  Teachers should expect to work from 8:00 - 3:00 and assistants from 8:00 - 12:00.  

Teaching Tip of the Week:  Setting Learning Goals for each day is a powerful tool to help students know what they are expected to learn and be able to do by the end of your lesson.  It helps students know what/why they are doing the work AND it helps teachers know what to focus on in formative assessments.  Below is a quick review from Robert Marzano on how to set a learning goal for your classroom!  I look forward to seeing Learning Goals Posted this week!

Clearly Articulating Learning Goals

The teacher clarifies learning goals that state what students will know or be able to do at the end of a lesson, unit, or semester. As part of this strategy, the teacher must be careful not to confuse learning goals with activities and assignments. Activities and assignments are the tasks that the teacher asks students to do in order to achieve the learning goals. For example, the following statement is an activity: students will preview the chapter on the adverse effects of smoking before reading it. A related learning goal would be: students will understand the adverse effects of smoking. To create a learning goal, the teacher translates general statements from standards documents into the following learning goal formats:

• Declarative knowledge: Students will understand _______.
• Procedural knowledge: Students will be able to _______.